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Last night I took part in a protest against United Airlines and I have to say, this really was good for my soul and it is something I need to do much more often. I am hoping to see the demise of United Airlines due to their inexcusable actions - really, there is no excuse for United going forward to continue operations - and I am hoping in some very small way my participating helps to bring them down. In a very, very, very small way, of course. Rob

How will marching, chanting and sign-waving "bring them down"? The financial markets might. The flying public might. Their competitors might (Fly Southwest: we may lose your luggage, but we won't beat you up). But if righteous outrage had any practical utility I can think of any number of companies that would have been protested out of existence by now.

I'm going to display some class by ignoring your snark and answering this question seriously.

Living in the 85006, I have more of a connection to the airport and the airline industry than you would think. The airport in Phoenix is but a ten minute cab ride away from my house, given that I live right around the corner from an on ramp to State Route 51, which allows rapid access to the airport from the 85006. Given that my neighborhood overall is struggling and lower income, many folks here work lower end positions in food and beverage or janitorial at the airport, or for Swissport (international company that airlines contract to to have basic cleaning/food prep tasks done). The airport is one of the biggest employers in the 85006, and though I don't work for the airport, I often hear airport drama from stopping and talking to my neighbors - often over a free shot of El Presidente from some of the cooler neighbors.

My point is that a malevolent (sp?) airline such as United that negatively impacts Sky Harbour International Airport is a cause of concern in the 85006 and you'd better believe people here know all about it. Please don't make the often committed middle class and above mistake of believing folks of the lower classes are uniformed - this is often not the case in my experience - probably the average Joe or Jane in the 85006 knows more about the United Airlines fiasco that the average Joe or Jane in the 85016 (85016 being a neighboring higher income zip code) - this has nothing to do with intelligence but rather with economic survival, as the airport is a large employer in this zip code as I've already stated. Rob

PS The protest was actually a lot of fun, and there were food and refreshments served, too, a nice touch I was not expecting. I recognized a few protestors from my time protesting Wells Fargo downtown this past Fall when it was revealed how criminally shady the Wells Fargo Brand truly is, and I also recognized several neighbors of mine in the 85006. We are thinking of starting a protest committee of some kind - a least a phone tree to let folks know of protests and an effort to start a car pool for those needing rides to a given protest. Rob

How will marching, chanting and sign-waving "bring them down"? The financial markets might. The flying public might. Their competitors might (Fly Southwest: we may lose your luggage, but we won't beat you up). But if righteous outrage had any practical utility I can think of any number of companies that would have been protested out of existence by now.

We are at least getting the message out that to fly United Airlines at this point is to subsidize pure evil that does not care whatsoever regarding basic human rights and basic human dignity. To use such a brand is simply not acceptable in the 85006 - we are trying to spread this message up the social class chain/ladder. Certainly our local protest against the United Airlines Brand was not the only such protest in the US. Maybe we can't realistically do much regarding bringing down the brand, either, but at least we are not sitting around doing nothing whatsoever and not voicing our outrage against the actions of this evil brand. At least our voices are adding to the groundswell of fury and rage against the evil United Airlines Brand - surely this is better than being guilty of doing nothing against the brand, provided one has the time to make it to a protest? Rob

PS The protest was actually a lot of fun, and there were food and refreshments served, too, a nice touch I was not expecting. I recognized a few protestors from my time protesting Wells Fargo downtown this past Fall when it was revealed how criminally shady the Wells Fargo Brand truly is, and I also recognized several neighbors of mine in the 85006. We are thinking of starting a protest committee of some kind - a least a phone tree to let folks know of protests and an effort to start a car pool for those needing rides to a given protest. Rob

Set up a phone app to connect protester with protests. You could call it Unter.

Set up a phone app to connect protester with protests. You could call it Unter.

Now this is a good idea! I don't know about the name of Unter but a phone app for protestors, especially given how dicey life in the US has become for so many of it's citizens/permanent residents, is really a great idea! Rob

We are at least getting the message out that to fly United Airlines at this point is to subsidize pure evil that does not care whatsoever regarding basic human rights and basic human dignity. To use such a brand is simply not acceptable in the 85006 - we are trying to spread this message up the social class chain/ladder. Certainly our local protest against the United Airlines Brand was not the only such protest in the US. Maybe we can't realistically do much regarding bringing down the brand, either, but at least we are not sitting around doing nothing whatsoever and not voicing our outrage against the actions of this evil brand. At least our voices are adding to the groundswell of fury and rage against the evil United Airlines Brand - surely this is better than being guilty of doing nothing against the brand, provided one has the time to make it to a protest? Rob

"Pure evil"? Like the Holocaust? Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?

"Pure evil"? Like the Holocaust? Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?

Certainly the evil of United Airlines is no match for what took place during the Holocaust. Granted. At this point I will make two comments, however. A. I did not pull a Sean Spicer and ever compare United Airlines in any way to anything that took place during this unfortunate period of world history (nor would i ever given being one generation away from the Austrian homeland), and B. What United Airlines actions did to the 69 year old physician involved is truly pure evil and I don't see calling this for what it is a laying it on thick in the slightest. If anything I'm being too nice and mild, but such befits my role here as a moderator and I have to keep the language in check to some degree. As I said above, certainly the actions of United Airlines are no match for the evil of the Holocaust.....that does not make these actions less than evil in their own right, however. Rob

You can have him all to yourself IL.....LOL. He's really not my type and in all seriousness, I don't care to ever be dragged off a plane and caught up in a whirlwind of insanity through no fault of my own as the unfortunate Dr. Dao hae been, regardless of his pending and likely highly successful multi-million dollar winning lawsuit. I can just do without drama to this point, other than protesting against it's unfortunate occurrence due to turbo charged capitalism running amok. Other people's mileage may vary, though, and I do understand that. Rob

I have not flown since September 11th. The last flight I took they messed up my vegetarian meal order, then offered me leftovers from the half eaten plates of other passengers. That was on Northworst. However if I ever realize my dream of going to Hawaii I will fly at least once more.

Since they no longer provide food you won't have that problem again...

Since they no longer provide food you won't have that problem again...

When I flew British Airways to Heathrow two years ago this summer, on the direct Phoenix to Heathrow flight, I was in Economy and I was literally stunned at how good and how humane the service was. Seriously. They fed us twice (TWICE!!!) in Economy, with one snack in between and the drink cart went around four separate occasions and mini-bottles of wine were provided with the dinner service. In addition, I asked for a Coke once and was given one quickly and with no attitude whatsoever.

From this I learned one lesson: If you can pull off flying a foreign carrier to fly from point A to point B, by all means do so. To do so is a vote against the US Airline industry, and other than Southwest and Alaska Airlines, many similar votes against are a good thing, like Martha Stewart might say. Rob